Indonesia's presidential candidates have both indicated they would like to end the nation's reliance on Australian cattle imports, in the final debate before Wednesday's election.

Indonesia's self-sufficiency policy has caused major problems for the country and Australian cattle producers.

Indonesia is unable to meet its own demand for beef but attempts to restrict imports have seen prices skyrocket.

The election of a new president offers a chance for import quotas to be relaxed, but in the final debate both candidates - Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto - indicated they would like to move towards self-supply.

Mr Joko - the current governor of Jakarta, better known by his nickname, Jokowi - said that could happen in a few years after local production is strengthened, while Mr Prabowo pointed out that the logistics of distributing local beef needs improvement.

Mr Prabowo's last pitch kept to his nationalist theme.

"We want to build a dignified nation, a nation that will stand on its own feet," he said.

"A productive nation - a nation that won't only buy products from other countries, but a dignified nation that will also be able to produce and sell their own products."

Mr Joko, who is known for his humble and unassuming style, took a more attacking position than usual.

Indonesian election by the numbers

188,206,000 registered voters

2.03 million registered voters overseas

478,883 polling booths

67 million estimated first-time voters

The election's budget is $320 million

The election commission has hired 6 million staff for the poll

Official result will be declared on August 9

In a veiled swipe he reminded the audience that Mr Prabowo, whose campaign rhetoric has been laden with anti-foreigner sentiment, has himself fled overseas twice, where he received his education and in one case protection from a foreign power.

"We were born, raised, educated and worked here in Indonesia," Mr Joko said of himself and his running mate Jusuf Kalla, known as JK.

"We are fully Indonesian and we, Jokowi JK, will only abide by the Indonesian constitution and by what the people of Indonesia want and we, Jokowi JK, will remain loyal to the Republic of Indonesia."

The seemingly coded message is as close as Mr Joko has come to openly pointing out Mr Prabowo's controversial past.

Mr Prabawo was a military commander under the dictator president Suharto, and was married to the autocrat's daughter Titiek.

"Jokowi and Kalla looked better," said Tobias Basuki, from Jakarta-based think-tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, adding the other pair "seemed to have lost their composure".

Campaigning is now in a blackout period before the poll on Wednesday.

The election rules ban any further attempt to canvass votes, meaning they cannot do media interviews and the millions of campaign posters and banners that have been strung up across the country have to be pulled down.

Mr Joko had enjoyed a strong lead in the opinion polls but that has almost evaporated, with Mr Prabowo's strong-man image and professional campaigning seeing him enjoy a surge in support.

With just three days to go before the poll, Mr Joko held emergency meetings with advisers, cancelled commitments and made a last-ditch effort to win over voters in West Java – part of an island that is home to more than half of Indonesia's population.

Analysts say presidential race still too close to call

Mr Joko's relatively disorganised campaign team has struggled against the millions spent by Mr Prabowo and his billionaire backers on a highly professional campaign.

With days to go, political analysts and observers of Indonesia are saying it is too close to call.

Mr Joko taking the offensive in last night's debate may help him gain some ground as those who support Mr Prabowo tend to say his appeal is "strength and firmness".

Last night Mr Joko made fun of Mr Prabowo's promise to release 2 million hectares of land for farming.

"If [we] were given the mandate from the people, we plan to add 2 million hectares of new rice farm lands, to counter the lost of 730,000 hectares that have been converted for various uses," Mr Prabowo said.

Mr Joko made fun of that, saying planning is needed in order to successfully make a rice paddy. He pointed out that there needs to be a water supply that can be diverted.

In response to questions about why the two cities Mr Joko has run, Solo and Jakarta, have never won awards for green initiatives, both Mr Joko and his running mate made fun of the questions, eliciting laughter from the audience.

"I would like to respond simply to it: you had a good question but you made mistakes," Mr Kalla said.

"The award for cities is not called Kalpataru, but Adipura. So you were wrong. Because you were wrong, I am not going to answer."

Mr Joko added: "Solo was given the green city award from the ministry of environment and the ministry of forestry, please check with them, sir."

But Mr Prabowo and Mr Hatta also landed some punches.

Mr Prabowo accused Mr Kalla of being supportive of rice imports when he was in office as vice president.

And Hatta Rajassa, who was the coordinating minister for economics, reminded Mr Joko's running mate that they had been in government together, which took the sting out of some attacks on his governance record.

Jokowi turning to religion as campaign comes to an end

Mr Joko is using the moratorium period to travel to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, to ask Allah for his blessing.

Damaging allegations that Mr Joko is not a Muslim is something that he has struggled to overcome in the campaign, as Indonesia is the most populated majority Muslim country in the world.

His trip to Mecca may endear him in the eyes of about 90 per cent of the country's 250 million people, who identify as Muslim.

Presumably Mr Joko's absence from Indonesia and the fact that it is not an appeal to voters avoids the trip being classed as breaching blackout rules.

It is also somewhat of a tradition, with Mr Joko having made the pilgrimage previously in the mayoral race for Solo, in central Java, and while contesting the governorship of Jakarta.

He plans to spend the time "praying, being quiet, and letting God handle the rest".